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Bush Won't Pardon Marion Jones Because Steroids are Not a Matter of National Security
This spring once track uber-star Marion Jones applied for commutation of her six-month prison sentence, which she is serving for her involvement in the BALCO steroids scandal, for perjuring herself, and for check fraud. Jones, who gave up her five Olympic medals from Sydney in 2000 (three of them gold) has been in jail since March. She applied for the commutation (not a pardon) soon after she started her detention in a Texas slammer, in part because she has an eight-month old son, and because, well, people who do far worse are pardoned all the time.
Scooter Libby, who was convicted on five counts of federal obstruction of justice and perjury charges resulting from the grand jury investigation into the CIA identity leak of Valerie Plame didn't have to serve a day of his 30-month prison term. Bush commuted Cheney's former chief-of-staff's sentence (without Libby even applying for the commutation) calling the sentence "too harsh."
Today the head of the USA Track and Field sent Bush a letter, imploring him not to pardon Jones. "To reduce Ms Jones' sentence or pardon her would send a horrible message to young people who idolized her, reinforcing the notion that you can cheat and be entitled to get away with it." He also said that a commutation or pardon would reinforce the notion that those with "athletic talent, money or fame" enjoy the benefits of a legal double standard.
Double standards in this administration is the standard. Lying and obstructing justice when it comes to a steroids scandal is inexcusable, but lying when it comes to national security is, by action taken, excusable?
Yes, steroids have created a clusterf**k (sorry, there really isn't a spot-on PG-rated term to describe this mess) of a national sports system, and one that will continue to taint the world-sports stage for years, if not decades, to come, but Marion Jones has likely already been through enough to ensure she's an example not to be idolized (she's now broke, humiliated, a felon). Similar to the colossal waste of time that was the steroids investigation on Capitol Hill earlier this year, let's get on with it.
Bush, if he had any gumption, would commute her sentence, forgive and forget. Sure, she lied, but its not like she was hiding WMD or anything, and lying is sort of de rigueur for this administration, and he sure is one for a "consistent philosophy." And that the USA Track and Field big wigs are trotting out this don't-make-a-hero-of-the-fallen routine just before the Olympics is predictable, if hollow, timing. There is not a chance in Michael Johnson's golden shoes that UST&F was not aware of the steroids running amok in the sport over the last decade-plus. But anything to win, isn't that the American way? And if winning the war in Iraq and the war on terror is looking grim, well, we sure as hell better win on the field.
Beijing, here we come. Bring 'em on.
Yeah, yeah, yeah... Republicans all hate blacks and other minorities.
Democrats all love them.
Common knowledge.
This December 2004 USA Today article proves your point.
WASHINGTON ? With little fanfare and not much credit, President Bush has appointed a more diverse set of top advisers than any president in history.
In his first term, Bush matched the record that President Clinton set in his first term for appointing women and people of color to the Cabinet, and Bush had a more diverse inner circle at the White House. Since his re-election last month, the president has made a series of groundbreaking nominations.
He named his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, to be the first female African-American secretary of State, the Cabinet's senior position. He also nominated Margaret Spellings, his domestic policy adviser, to lead the Education Department and Cuban-born business executive Carlos Gutierrez to head Commerce.
"Bush did not go out and say, 'I'm going to create an administration that looks like America,' which is how Clinton led off," says Paul Light, a political scientist at New York University who has studied presidential appointments. "He has just gone about recruiting a diverse Cabinet as an ordinary act. That's remarkable in the sense it sends to future administrations: 'This is just the way we're going to do business.'"
Among Washington insiders, what's more significant is the demographics of a more amorphous group: the aides and advisers whose counsel Bush trusts most. He is the first president whose innermost circle ? the people he relies on in a crunch ? includes a woman other than his wife.
Even some Democrats grumbled during the presidential campaign that Bush had more African-Americans and Hispanics among his closest advisers than did Democratic challenger John Kerry, who won a majority of black and Hispanic votes.
"On the Democratic side, we see that and we say, 'Hmmm,' " says Donna Brazile, who was Al Gore's campaign manager in 2000 and is African-American. She credits Bush with instinctively believing that surrounding himself with able women and people of color helps him make better decisions ? a lesson she says some Democratic officeholders and candidates have yet to absorb.
We now return to your regularly scheduled "Bush the Racist" bash-a-thon.
Yeah, yeah, yeah... Republicans all hate blacks and other minorities.
Democrats all love them.
Common knowledge.
This December 2004 USA Today article proves your point.
WASHINGTON ? With little fanfare and not much credit, President Bush has appointed a more diverse set of top advisers than any president in history.
In his first term, Bush matched the record that President Clinton set in his first term for appointing women and people of color to the Cabinet, and Bush had a more diverse inner circle at the White House. Since his re-election last month, the president has made a series of groundbreaking nominations.
He named his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, to be the first female African-American secretary of State, the Cabinet's senior position. He also nominated Margaret Spellings, his domestic policy adviser, to lead the Education Department and Cuban-born business executive Carlos Gutierrez to head Commerce.
"Bush did not go out and say, 'I'm going to create an administration that looks like America,' which is how Clinton led off," says Paul Light, a political scientist at New York University who has studied presidential appointments. "He has just gone about recruiting a diverse Cabinet as an ordinary act. That's remarkable in the sense it sends to future administrations: 'This is just the way we're going to do business.'"
Among Washington insiders, what's more significant is the demographics of a more amorphous group: the aides and advisers whose counsel Bush trusts most. He is the first president whose innermost circle ? the people he relies on in a crunch ? includes a woman other than his wife.
Even some Democrats grumbled during the presidential campaign that Bush had more African-Americans and Hispanics among his closest advisers than did Democratic challenger John Kerry, who won a majority of black and Hispanic votes.
"On the Democratic side, we see that and we say, 'Hmmm,' " says Donna Brazile, who was Al Gore's campaign manager in 2000 and is African-American. She credits Bush with instinctively believing that surrounding himself with able women and people of color helps him make better decisions ? a lesson she says some Democratic officeholders and candidates have yet to absorb.
We now return to your regularly scheduled "Bush the Racist" bash-a-thon.
You have got to be out of your f*%king mind. (Sorry, no PG rated term comes readily to mind for this either.)
You claim the Bush administration has subverted the rule of law and made capricious decisions based solely on ideology and then you want the same thing for sports figures who broke basic tenants of the whole idea of fair competition?
I think we all got a raw deal when Libby's sentence was commuted. We still don't have any reckoning with the rest of the people who were instrumental in leaking V.P.'s name. The situation in Gitmo is a national disgrace, the FISA situation is a mess and well over 4000 troops have died in Iraq because this Texas twit isn't smart enough to pour piss out of a boot if the directions were printed on the sole. And you think he should make one more bad decision just because he's made a bunch of them already?
What Marion Jones did was wrong and she knew it the minute she took the first dose. And then she lied to try to cover it up. And I have no idea why she got involved in the check fraud scheme. Did she really need the money? (Hey, that's what we all do when things get tight, right? We lie and steal, so it's OK?) Commuting her sentence just because others have done worse things and gotten off is a lousy idea and would set a horrible precedent. She should take her lumps like any cheater that gets caught. Personally, I think she got off very lightly. She should have thought of her son before she got involved or she should have thought of the consequences BEFORE she acted. She'll be reunited with her son in the fall and she can try to make up for the time she cheated him out of. Some of the people have been in Gitmo for over 5 years. How do they get that time back?
And she didn't have to 'give up' those medals; she didn't earn them and they weren't hers to begin with. So she had to return them to their rightful owners.
Whenever you have an idea like this again, try to think of it in a broad application or as a general rule and see what the consequences are. Situations should be judged as they exist. If someone did something wrong, they should not profit from those actions. That someone else was not punished for something is no reason that everyone else should get a free pass. If you feel bad for Marion Jones then say so, based on Marion Jones and her situation. But don't try to tell us that one cheater should get off just because another one did.
T. Hunt
Well as to why Bush has no sympathy for Marion Jones, Kanye West said it best.......George Bush doesn't care for black people
The fact that the US constitution allows Bush to pardon himself and the rest of his maladministration is a gross oversight that needs to be righted before the American people elect another idiot.
Yeah, yeah, yeah... Republicans all hate blacks and other minorities.
Democrats all love them.
Common knowledge.
This December 2004 USA Today article proves your point.
WASHINGTON With little fanfare and not much credit, President Bush has appointed a more diverse set of top advisers than any president in history.
In his first term, Bush matched the record that President Clinton set in his first term for appointing women and people of color to the Cabinet, and Bush had a more diverse inner circle at the White House. Since his re-election last month, the president has made a series of groundbreaking nominations.
He named his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, to be the first female African-American secretary of State, the Cabinet's senior position. He also nominated Margaret Spellings, his domestic policy adviser, to lead the Education Department and Cuban-born business executive Carlos Gutierrez to head Commerce.
"Bush did not go out and say, 'I'm going to create an administration that looks like America,' which is how Clinton led off," says Paul Light, a political scientist at New York University who has studied presidential appointments. "He has just gone about recruiting a diverse Cabinet as an ordinary act. That's remarkable in the sense it sends to future administrations: 'This is just the way we're going to do business.'"
Among Washington insiders, what's more significant is the demographics of a more amorphous group: the aides and advisers whose counsel Bush trusts most. He is the first president whose innermost circle the people he relies on in a crunch includes a woman other than his wife.
Even some Democrats grumbled during the presidential campaign that Bush had more African-Americans and Hispanics among his closest advisers than did Democratic challenger John Kerry, who won a majority of black and Hispanic votes.
"On the Democratic side, we see that and we say, 'Hmmm,' " says Donna Brazile, who was Al Gore's campaign manager in 2000 and is African-American. She credits Bush with instinctively believing that surrounding himself with able women and people of color helps him make better decisions a lesson she says some Democratic officeholders and candidates have yet to absorb.
We now return to your regularly scheduled "Bush the Racist" bash-a-thon.
Geez, Marion could get her sentence commuted if she would just say she saw the weapons of mass destruction that Sadamn had.
Who cares! A cheater wants a liar to to give her a break. This country needs a break from an administration that preaches, yet absolutely scoffs at, ANY rule of law! Just pray the next 'white house wannabe' doesn't succumb to this common political affliction.
Thanks YEAH...
You help show that the Lib's are jsut a bunch of hypocrits who want to keep the minorities down.. The more wlefare and control over them, the more democtar voters they will breed..
Thanks again,
Bill
Please understand, Bill, that I hold mainstream Republicans in no higher esteem than I do mainstream Democrats.
It's simply that if we're going to criticize either one or the other for something, it should be for things that they're Actually Guilty Of, or At Fault For. Not the bogus 'perceptions' that the partisans within one wing of the Oligarchy constantly feed us about the other wing, or vise-versa.
That's just the way I see it.
I feel bad for Marion Jones and I think she's suffered enough. Now whether the President commutes her sentence is up to him. But US Track and Field actually getting involved is malicious and petty.
As for the news article about Bush and his minority appointments: so what? He encourages and supports policies that have a negative effect on minorities in this country. That means far more to us than his window dressing because when push came to shove, it wasn't Powell or even Rice he listened to, it was Cheney and Rumsfeld and the other White, male, neo-cons.
I find it interesting that Jones is in jail, yet Jason Giambi, who admitted using steroids, is making multi-millions for the Yankees. Maybe if Jones were a white male, she'd be doing better.
bet Mrs Jones' wishes she had a better attorny , that is why her a$$ is going to jail! Remember whern dealing with white collar criminals , Judges are more willing to be lax on them, because the Judge see's an individual that looks like, dreses like and acts like them. Sadly baseball is more popular then track and field.
Because Bush pardoned Libby, no laws should be enforced and all "criminals" should be pardoned. Anything else is hypocrisy.
Everyone in the US should be prospectively pardoned of all federal crimes until a president takes office who has not committed any crimes himself (or herself).
Doesn't everyone know that Marion Jones is in prison for "perjury"?
She is not in prison for doping. She should not be punished by the criminal justice system for anything more than perjury. Doping is not a federal crime.
Her doping offenses have been penalized by anti-doping agencies, etc. already.
Very much like the Martha Stewart case, in that most people seemed to be under the illusion that Stewart went to prison on an 'insider trading' conviction, when the fact is she was convicted of not telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth to some FBI investigators. But she was not under oath, and it was in what they termed "an informal conversation".
They convicted her for obstruction of justice.
Oh well she tried, I'm sure she has come back to her senses and realizes that there is a form of justice that applies to "just-us" minorities and women. She should be thankful that she didn't get major time in jail.